Oregon: Track Country

With the University of Oregon in the core of the Willamette Valley (remember "Pre?"), Nike World Headquarters in the suburbs of Portland and some of the most beautiful and diverse scenery to train in, it is no wonder that Oregon High School Track has become immensely popular over the past years. When I went out to shoot my first track meet since I was in high school last week, I was blown over by the sheer number of participants that were present for a simple dual meet between Jesuit and Hillsboro. There were athletes everywhere...and so many events were going on simultaneously...it was like trying to watch all the rides and game booths at once at the Rose Festival Fun Center on a warm summer night in June. OK...one can dream about a warm summer night during Rose Festival...but I digress.

One needs to have a game plan going into shooting a track meet....I didn't, so I tried to move around the best I could and shoot as much of a variety of events as I could. It will take a little trial and error, along with some studying up on who the top athletes are until I feel comfortable enough to know I can cover the core story of a meet. But in the mean time...I just worked on timing, style, angles and capturing some peak action. I enjoyed the experience and look forward to shooting a few more meets before the season is over.

Jesuit boys literally ran away from Hillsboro a score of 113 to 32. The girls contest was closer with Jesuit winning by a 96.33 to 48.66 margin.

Meet photos of the Jesuit/Hillsboro Dual Meet